Ben Whishaw to play Q in James Bond ‘Skyfall’

Ben Whishaw will play Q in the forthcoming James Bond movie Skyfall, it has been announced.

The star of The Hour had been announced as part of the cast at the London press conference which launched the film, although details of his character had been kept under wraps.

Now, it has emerged that Whishaw will play 007’s gadget master, according to BBC News. He will be the third actor to play Q in the films, after a long-running stint from Desmond Llewelyn and in more recent years, John Cleese. The character had not appeared in either of Daniel Craig‘s previous outings as James Bond.

Whishaw and Craig have previously appeared together in 2004’s Layer Cake. Skyfall will also see Judi Dench return as M, while the cast also features Berenice Marlohe, Naomie Harris and Javier Bardem. Sam Mendes will direct. Craig has described the film as “Bond with a capital B”.

Skyfall is due for release in October 2012. You can watch footage from the press conference by clicking on the video below.